“ . . . give me loyalty, and I will teach you much about the game, as if your own family had chronicled. And I will let you live longer than the others.”
“Whoa.” Let me live? “Are you saying . . . does that mean you’re gonna kill me?” What a stupid question; how many murderers would ever admit that?
In his deep, accented voice, he told me, “Yes, Fauna. In time, I will take your life.” He was calmly telling me he’d gank me. “You might have a couple of years left before then. Perhaps you’ll make it out of your teens. I haven’t decided yet.”
He sounded so confident that I nearly puked with fear.
The roar grew louder. Not just in my ears?
Death fell silent, cocking his head. “It begins at the end. The reckoning comes.”
“My dad is out there!”
“Yes.”
An explosion of brightness lit up the screens; the castle rocked. The cameras cut out, leaving only static.
_______________
I was curled up and crying in my bed, terrified for Dad—and for myself. Some catastrophe was happening out there, which meant Death had been right all along about the Big One.
I believed him about the game. I believed he would kill other kids one by one until he finally got to me.
I believed I might never see my dad’s patient smile again. Had I lost both of my parents? Though I hated my mom, I didn’t want her to die. In these terrifying hours, I’d even tried her old number. Not that any of my calls had connected.
Dad, please be safe. Please come back. Some crazy dude wants to murder me.
How could this be happening? What if Dad made it back, but Death had already ganked me? I buried my face in my pillow to muffle my scream. Then I remembered something.
I was Lark freaking Inukai. I sat up, swiping my tears away. I defanged killers. I defused their aggression. I found out their weaknesses and exploited them ruthlessly.
You don’t know me, Death.
Every dangerous creature had a weakness. I would find his. If we were supposed to play to win, I would dominate.
You don’t know me at all. . . .
The Hermit (IX)
Arthur, Master of Alchemy
“A wise man in the guise of a boy.”
A.k.a.: The Alchemist
Powers: Hyperintelligence, hypercognition, chemistry savant, guile. Potioner and elixirs master.
Special Skills: Acting normal.
Weapons: Pain potions, acid grenades, scalpel.
Tableau: An aged, cloaked man holding a lantern in the dark.
Icon: A glowing lantern.
Unique Arcana Characteristics: Appears elderly when using his powers.
Before Flash: Escalating kidnapper and serial killer.
Fortune (X)
Azara “Zara” Bonifácio Félix, Our Lady of Chance
“Where she stops, nobody knows.”
A.k.a.: Lady Luck, the Luck Thief, Fluke
Powers: Luck absorption. Can impart misfortune (increasing her own luck) and steal luck through touch.
Special Skills: Expert pilot, trained combat fighter, markswoman.
Weapons: Helicopters. Firearms used in aerial assaults.
Tableau: A girl standing in the center of a huge spinning wheel. A sphinx runs on top of it and a dragon clings to the bottom while ancient clay dice rain down from a night sky.
Icon: Wheel.
Unique Arcana Characteristics: Eyes and veins turn purple when she establishes a luck conduit.
Before Flash: Brazilian heiress to Dragão Novo, the largest turbine helicopter manufacturer in São Paulo State (the civilian helicopter capital of the world).
São Paulo, Brazil
Day 0
Kicked back at my father’s desk, I daydreamed about my new flamethrower and took in the view from his office’s floor-to-ceiling glass wall. The city streets sprawled below.
He should be finished soon with the group of Japanese investors. He’d wanted me to join him in the conference room, but I had heard his sales pitch a thousand times: “In São Paulo, kidnappings among the wealthy have become a way of life. Here, we live in armored, guarded penthouses and travel by helicopter from one tower to the next. If the same happens in your city, will you be ready?”
Yes, there were kidnappings here; my own mother had been murdered during an abduction. Yes, our copters sold like crazy. But he might be overplaying the facts a touch.
Most traveled via copter to escape the miserable traffic.
His fearmongering worked for me. Nobody benefited from Dragão’s sales like I did. Money enabled me to buy things like flamethrowers.
God, I loved fire.
“Where is your mind, daughter?” Papai asked, smiling at me from his office door. Behind him, his assistant ushered the investors toward the rooftop helipad. One of our pilots would fly them out.
I rose to give Papai his seat back, then hopped up on the corner of his desk. “I was thinking about my trip. I leave tonight.”
He sank into his chair. “Or you could shadow me at work this week instead.”
We’d had this talk repeatedly. He wanted me to concentrate on our business. At twenty-three, I was a skilled pilot, a crack shot, and a trained fighter, but I wouldn’t know a spreadsheet if it came at me with a machete. “I have a solid lead on the Oliveras.” Once I located their hideout, I would torch it with my new toy.
When I was eleven, they’d killed my mother. I’d been hunting them for the last year, ever since I’d come into my Dragão stock shares. With money, I’d funded more training, weapons, and a crew.
My life had been shaped by revenge, and I possessed the ideal temperament for it. Papai had once said I’d been born bloodthirsty; he wasn’t wrong.
Now he exhaled, looking older than his years. He was athletic and fit, but stress beat him down. “How can you keep chasing this vendetta?”